-
7 “Take that . . . ”
- University of North Texas Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
95 chapter seven “Take that . . . ” “The movies don’t even come close.” —Norman* piano player for the Mike Harris Quartet I The Mike Harris Quartet had been playing soft music since 9 P.M., and by the time midnight came along, they were getting no requests or tips. “Hey, it was a Thursday night,” said Norman, the piano player. They played Duke Ellington’s C Jam Blues before taking a break just after midnight. Sherlyn, the featured singer, turned on taped music and went to the end of the bar where Mary and Dick were talking and laughing. From the time Belachheb arrived to just after midnight, he had three or four Johnny Walker and 7Up. He roamed around the entire barroom and spoke to nearly all of the women. He even danced with a few, but he always came back to Marcell. “Marcell was the kind of person if she was annoyed with somebody you could tell quite immediately,” Dick observed. He noticed, as did almost everyone else, that Marcell wanted less and less to do with Belachheb as the night wore on. Some of the other regulars, less than enchanted by her brusque ways, recall that she could, at times, be cruel. “I had seen her before come on to a man sitting next to her and then belittle him in front of people,” remembered a Ianni’s bartender. 96 • CHAPTER SEVEN That night with Belachheb, she was just “egging him on” for about two hours. At first, he laughed it off, even after she called him a “sand nigger.” A couple of times, he just walked off and danced with someone else—only to return. She merely continued her unambiguous insults. Whether or not they had ever had a relationship, or had ever been to a “Jacuzzi party,” on that evening it was clear that Marcell wanted Belachheb to go away. Right before midnight, the bartender, standing right in front of both of them, and other patrons nearby recalled that the argument began to get “nasty.”1 Marcell spent most of two hours insulting Belachheb and rebuffing his advances. Equally clear is that he controlled himself through that period and chose to stay rather than leave. According to a psychologist Belachheb’s attorney later retained, the critical moment came when Marcell is alleged to have said, “I can’t believe I ever made love to a monkey like you.” Belachheb claims to have turned to walk away. Linda Lowe, Belachheb’s story continues , grabbed him by the hair and said, “Leave this lady alone or it’s all off with Nick,” an apparent reference to the job he was to get in about a month at Nick’s car dealership. The three most reliable witnesses to the final moments of the argument were Ata, the employee seated across the bar from Marcell, who had a direct view of what was going on; Richard, the bartender; and Terry Rippa, who had been watching Linda for an opportunity to dance with her. None saw Linda do anything but look straight ahead or lean forward to light a cigarette.2 Other people were very near, and surely if she had grabbed Belachheb’s hair, it would have caught someone’s attention, but no one else saw such a thing. Linda was so close to the action that she had to have known what was going on, but it is highly unlikely that she inserted herself into an argument that did not involve her with a man she openly detested. Marcell had enough when Belachheb tried to put his arm around her. She pushed him back violently and said something like, “If you ever do that again you will be taken care of. . . . ” The [3.214.184.69] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 14:17 GMT) “TAKE THAT . . .” • 97 bartender believes that at that moment it is possible that Linda and Janice, two friends enjoying each other’s company, may have laughed at something unrelated to what was going on and that Belachheb might have thought they were laughing at him. Now, Belachheb had enough. He backed off, blew Marcell a kiss, and turned left to head toward the front door. As he turned to walk away, Marcell blew him a kiss, looked at Ata and Ahmed seated across the bar, and rolled her eyes upward.3 Ata was accustomed to “following” troublemakers out the front door—just in case—and he watched Belachheb leave. He thought the trouble was over...